New Managing Director for Serco's Defence business

Serco Group plc (Serco), the international services company, has appointed Duncan Mackison as Managing Director, Defence - part of its UK & Europe Division. Serco provides key support to the UK's Armed Forces and Duncan brings both business acumen and frontline military experience to the role. He will be responsible for around 7,000 staff working across Serco's Defence business and an annual turnover in excess of £400m.

Duncan joined Serco in 2005 and has held a number of roles within the company, having previously worked for a number of large businesses including Procter & Gamble. Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of ACCESS LLP, a ground-breaking and award-winning joint venture with Glasgow City Council to deliver ICT and property services. Duncan started his career as a Royal Marines officer: during his nine years of service, he completed a number of operational tours with 45 and 43 Commando and was the ADC to the Joint Force Commander during Operation HAVEN in Kurdistan in 1991. His final appointment was working in Joint Operations on the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief Fleet in what is now PJHQ.

Serco provides an extensive range of integrated services to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) including technology, facilities management and engineering across sea, land and air. These include the delivery of the Contemporary Operating Environment Force (COEFOR) contract providing training and support to the British Army prior to deployment on operations overseas; a series of multi-activity contracts for the Royal Air Force; the management of Defence Business Services; the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory's (Dstl) Helios programme, which will see the relocation of all of Dstl's activities from Fort Halstead to Porton Down and Portsdown West and the Marine Services business that provides support to the Royal Navy.

Commenting on his appointment Duncan Mackison said: "I am delighted to be taking on this new role. Serco has an exceptional pedigree in Defence - it's where the business began 50 years ago. There are exciting opportunities for further growth in this sector and I look forward to building our capabilities in areas such as infrastructure management, business process and whole enterprise outsourcing, and technical and engineering services."